MIKO knygos

Portable interactive computer books for teachers

A portable interactive computer (PIC) book is a powerful tool to collect, store, manage and display information. Although these interactive books can be used in many fields, we focus on educational applications using their wide range of possibilities and excellent features.

Using a technological idea developed by our company, we have created several electronic teacher books on mathematics, IT and history for Lithuanian market. We are now preparing new PIC books for teachers in the field of natural sciences, music and arts. Even though the prototype of the first PIC book appeared just a year ago, more than 2500 Lithuanian teachers already expressed their strong interest to work with this new tool.

The main feature of a PIC book - portability - is very useful for teachers, whose working place and equipment may vary. Sometimes teachers prepare for lessons on a home computer or a laptop, sometimes they are working in a class with multimedia equipment or even with an interactive whiteboard. A PIC book is always at hand, since it is programmed in a USB flash. No passwords, no installation - just put it into the USB drive and start working!

PIC books contain an engine (management system), contents and a wide range of additional functionalities. In all our products we are using the same engine created by our company and all our PIC books feature the same functionalities. They differ only in content, which can be very specific depending on the subject and personal preferences. The standard elements included in such electronic books are: a digital textbook (or a collection of lessons), methodological support for teachers (fragments of teaching programs, plans for lessons, answers to problems, tests, etc.) and extra learning materials (video and audio materials, presentations, text documents etc. related to the subject).

The management system allows: interactive search across the contents, printing of selected pages, changing the viewing possibilities. There are five ways to update, change or expand the contents of a PIC book: 1) by adding notes (as color stickers); 2) by inserting extra PDF pages; 3) by making links to any accessible file or to an internet site; 4) by collecting all files needed in one place (OWN directory on the same USB flash) and connecting them to selected pages of the book; 5) by creating own pages covering the original contents, which will nevertheless remain available.

PIC books are probably the only electronic product, which can be directly updated or corrected by its owner without changing the original contents. This feature is very attractive for teachers, who always need a lot of extra materials for their lessons. Therefore such PIC books are continuous and can be used perpetually.